Heretic
by disjunctionreaper
Summary: First attempt at a FanFic, I'm a bit worried;   the story of a human mercenary with a dark history is caught during the Reapers invasion of Earth and seeks refuge in Russia's metro, facing a new enemy he finds help with a squad he would least expect...
1. Babel

_**Heretic**_

_**ACT 1 : Babel**_

A young man woke from a hazy and forgotten dream to find people, friends and comrades rushing forward taking their posts, weapons in hand limping towards the gate that they had defended for so long against the unrelenting unknown. They had held out as long as they could but without help they would soon lose this critical location. He had never expected this; as a mercenary for the Blue Suns he and his team were tasked to kill a Salarian on Earth. No questions were asked and anyway he was looking forward to returning to his home even if it was on business. It wasn't assassination but neither was it a slaughter, simply make it look like a pre-meditated murder but leave no trace as to who it was. But no-one was expecting what happened that day. Massive machines reigned down terror slaughtering millions as everyone fled to the safest location they could find. The Metro in Russia, while built for a long forgotten war that never happened proved to be an incredibly safe place to hide while everyone hoped for a solution to the crisis. The machines proved incapable of penetrating the thick walls of the Metro but that didn't stop them from deploying more precise weapons. Husks were well known together with their other variations but a different enemy lurked in the shadows, an unknown. All of Earth's hopes and the rest of the Galaxies hopes rested on the shoulders of Shepard and his companions.

Shepard had managed to rally the Quarinas and Geth into a peaceful but insecure alliance that increased the hostility of the rest of the galaxy towards the Quarians; but they didn't have a choice the Reapers were coming and attacking the Geth meant that they would be slaughtered; while continuing to roam the stars meant an easy target for the Reapers. The Quarians accepted the imminent threat that was approaching and reluctantly decided to help Shepards cause provided they were given their homeworld back to shelter their civilians and secure the alliance with the synthetics, the Geth agreeing joined with their massive and technologically advanced fleet; sporting more Warships than ships capable of transportation due to the Geth's disembodied nature; while the Quarians fleet mainly composed of transportation than warships. The Geth's fleets were already stretched thin from defending their posts from the Reapers and a few Quarians were recruited to support the Geth through engineering expertise. As to where Shepard, Tali or Legion were now was anybody's guess.

Ignoring the movement around him Mikhail pulled out a small picture from his pocket, he stared at the image; trying to relive the moments he had spent living the life that was imprinted on the photo. A quarian and himself arm-in-arm sharing a moment he knew he could never go back to… a person he could never go back to….. a life he could never go back to. The very _reason_ he became a mercenary. His thoughts were interrupted by a friendly voice, quickly hiding the photograph and turning his head towards the person. His lifelong friend and fellow soldier Ethrich a Turian was standing behind him and sat down just as Mikhail turned his head.

"How's your leg doing?" the Turian asked with a slightly sarcastic tone.

"Not bad although it seems that I'm not going to be able to fight front line today" the human responded in a neutral tone.

"I've got you a position at a MG nest - _over there_" he pointed towards a position that was well armed and well contained; looking like the safest place in the whole area.

"Thanks," was the human's response and a short pause of silence ensued, "Did you ever have anyone you cared for?" the human asked barely audible and keeping his head fixed towards the entrance of the metro's safe zone.

The turian's face changed to a look of concern and depression as his hand crossed his face covering his eyes and then his nose, "that's the past and I cannot let it interfere with the situation that we are currently facing," his tone changed to something that Mikhail had never seen before in all the time that they were friends, a deep low voice filled with torment.

Ethrich pulled out a tin of canned soup, "here, it's not much but it will help; you need to eat, you can't afford to starve yourself".

"Give it to a child who needs it," he replied dryly. The turian moved his head from side to side and instead put the can next to him and got up. "I'll be back and you better have finished that soup", his voice was back to the usual sarcasm that Mikhail was used to.

When he was gone Mikhail examined the can, taking out his knife he punctured the lid and held it to his mouth drinking it slowly; taking a break between sips to take in the surrounding environment. The old creaking bulkheads; the aging walls of stone and steel, the stuffy and heated corridors and passages reminded him of his childhood on the surface in the open fields in Russia, ignorant of the world around him of what he had taken for granted. A person once taught him that, a very _special_ person. Getting angry at himself for reciting the thought he forced himself to view other things. People from several countries were present there Chinese, Spanish, American and most prominently Russian all living in the same areas all working together against a common enemy even is spite of their violent history and impossible odds. Once in a while a Turian or Asari would pop into sight standing out from the group and then rush off into the background mixed between all the other humans. The thought of his past once again caught up with him and he shook the idea off, to keep his mind off it he checked his leg's wound. It hadn't really gotten any better and the thought of how he got it was fresher than ever. That one time that they made their way back up to the surface a Praetorian had ambushed them. While they were outfitted to deal with it that didn't deny their weariness. As the beast fell to the ground its one arching foot pinned and pierced his foot. It was a painful reminder and one that he didn't want to remember.

Slowly he attempted to get up feeling pain stretch out throughout his entire body he gave up and fell onto the floor again. Someone, somewhere shouted "двигаться!" all of a sudden everyone started running across the dome, cocking their weapons, commanders barking out orders, engaging tech armor and so forth preparing the final preparations, A well decorated person came to him, held out his hand and as Mikhail grabbed it reluctantly- got thrown up to his feet. Without a word or whisper he pulled a rifle from his back and a Kessler from his left pocket holding each in either of his hands. Steeling his moral and resolve the young man took the weapons, holstering the pistol in the pocket on his upper left thigh and keeping the rifle in his hands. The commander with a nod quickly walked away towards the triage centre.

Trying to not over-strain his muscles he slowly started limping to the weapon emplacements. Noticing the different divisions of troops rushing back and forth; Vanguards, Infiltrators and Soldiers this was no-ordinary raid. The thought crossed his mind of what they were fighting. "Husks? No- you don't need snipers for a couple of empty corpses, Praetorians? Maybe but then we wouldn't be so tightly packed in one position."Going through every possibility he couldn't decide but concluded that whatever was coming was big.

In a strange instance of what were probably only a few milliseconds everyone stopped, _everything_ stopped and concurrently an earsplitting scream was heard followed by a massive explosion that shook the very foundations and walls that surrounded them throwing everyone to the ground. Debris filled the man's eyes; a ringing in his ears deafened him as he moved his head around struggling to make sense of what was happening. Slowly as he tilted his heads orientation towards the gate he noticed a strange sight.

An awfully disturbing figure appeared before him. A small band of….humans only they were not. The one who was the closest seemed to have a far more complicated stature probably the leader his lower jaw was missing, saliva and blood mixed together hanging by strands. Red scars were prominent across his face including the eyes it almost formed a circle. His….its hands were molded to have three sharp fingers and one awkward spike extruding from the underside of its hand or more likely claw. Muscle tissue was visible across much of the body with a strange brown/pink hue, though the most eye-catching feature was what the skin was composed of; it was cracked and from these cracks originated a type of flame burning the tissue; releasing a stench of charred flesh that could be smelt from meters away; as was the case with Mikhail.

The fiends were slowly approaching; a rush of adrenaline coursed through his blood. He had to get out of here but as he attempted to move he realized the massive amount of rubble on his legs preventing him from even moving an inch. Some comrades were getting up attempting to land a shot at the monstrosities before them. However each of them was cut down almost instantly by the two fiends on either side of the leading one. Slowly they split up. Mikhail's eyes focused to the one to the left. Slowly it approached with its arm outstretched grabbed a person from the ground and held her to the light by the neck. The time passed slowly and painfully as the man had to watch the monster strengthen its grip on her neck; the woman shouting for her life until in a sudden violent motion her head released its hold on her frozen body falling to the ground. This image would be burned in Mikhail's memories for the rest of what remained in his life. It hit him as he returned to his conscience how close the leading fiend was. Like a chicken with its leg stuck in a hole, he tried to get free from the hold of the debris that held him in place. With so much effort his only reward was an excruciating strain across his leg; far worse than anything he had ever felt before. The fiend was towering above him its eyes burning into Mikhail's.

An arm covered with a brownish pink tinge and skin that looked more like armor than actual tissue reached out slowly towards his neck; doing what he could to evade the grasp he pulled out his pistol to fire a shot. However as happened to the others who were valiant enough to stand up to this….thing the arm shot forward onto his neck cutting his access to oxygen. The monster then proceeded to pull him out of the pile of debris creating unimaginable pain as the dislocated leg was torn clean off. Holding the tortured being a few inches from its deformed and repulsive face it spoke:

"Where is Shepard?" it asked; a strong deep voice lacking emotion.

As much as he wanted to respond he couldn't, he was incapable of responding due to the sheer pain he was feeling, the pain his muscles felt, the grasp of the fiend, the burning sensation its hand created, the stench it emanated but most of all the pain from the position of where his leg used to be.

Tightening its grip it spoke again, "Where is Shepard?" its eyes burning through to Mikhail's sending a message- a vision; of death and destruction. Its hand heated up even more; the pain being excruciating.

As his vision started to dim and darken a loud noise awoke him; unsure of what it was the fiends looked around, the leader maintaining his strong hold over Mikhail. A few seconds later the fiend to the right fell to the ground with a heavy _thud;_ a long blade appeared through the chest of the other as it stumbled forward.

During this time the leader turned his head looking for an accomplice. Too late to notice a knife was approaching it and hit dead-centre between its eyes shuddering seconds after it hit, the fiend releasing a gasp as it fell to the ground with such a heavy weight that it shook the ground.

Gasping for air as he himself hit the ground the human was greeted by a Quarian approaching him, slowly, beautifully and marvelously. This was the last thing he needed; hallucinations. The Quarian stood over the monstrosity slowly knelt on one knee and pulled the knife out of the corpse. Then proceeded to sheath her knife next to her ankle wiping it clean beforehand. Dis-believing the human searched around the room; as he did so a flashlight appeared amongst one of the dark corners of the room and a synthetic stepped out with a Mantis Sniper Rifle in hand, stopping a few meters away from Mikhail. Lastly another person appeared next to the Quarian; exiting from the electronic cloaking device he was using; a human appeared with one hand on the Quarians shoulder. A long red and white stripe was painted on his right hand shoulder and the symbol N7 was shining through the darkness of the room on his breastplate. The realization of who this was hit him like a train; this….was….Shepard.

Rumors had spread amongst fellow mercenaries about this legend this…ghost. He had never expected to see him up close. He tried to speak but all he let out was a whisper. Suddenly an agonizing pain crept up his waist, this causing him to fall on his back.

"Tali see what you can do to keep him alive, he is the only one who can tell us what happened here, Legion; scout and secure the area. I'll look for other survivors." Shepard spoke quickly and fluently. Legion nodded and moved towards the gate while Tali opened her omni-tool and started applying anesthetic and omni-gel to Mikhail. She was surprised that he was still alive after and during this ordeal.

"Shepard, I don't think he'll make it unless he has proper medical care soon!" her voice carried across the entire dome. Shepard looked up, "Should we take him to the Normandy?"

"No-time, I can stabilize here but we need help". Shepard thought about it for some time then radioed to Mordin who was at one of the other entrances to the metro. Mordin, we need your help; we've got a critically wounded person in need of treatment."

"Negative…(static)..under enemy fire… (static)…left suppl(static)…..with Garr…." the com shortly went silent and all communications were cut.

"Dammit," running over to Tali and Mikhail Shepard checked his status. "I've stopped the bleeding but there is tremendous shock in him, his neck has suffered severe burns and a slight hint of poisoning from a source I don't know, I'm no doctor Shepard," her words seemed stressed and sad.

Shepard once again put his hand on her shoulder and calmed her down. "What now?" Shepard asked.

"See if you can get more antibiotics." Shepard remembered what Mordin had said in all the static; something about giving supplies to Garrus. He radioed him over, "Garrus we need medical supplies here ASAP,".

"Roger that Shepard; I'll send Samara your way immediately." Garrus's voice was confident and happy-go-lucky; strange for such a time and even stranger considering that Shepard could hear shots being fired in the background.

"Samara is on her way." Shepard said confidently and at the same time showing remorse to Tali and the stranger lying in front of them. He had learnt that Tali hated being the one to have to tend everyone's wounds due to the simple reason of having experience with her suit, a robot can't understand pain no matter how much theory it had incorporated and Shepard was the most skilled on the team with firearms which then made the duty fall to Tali. That and the fact that she hated being the one responsible if someone died; no matter how much Shepard tried to convince her that she had done everything she could and no-one could have done a better job she always felt responsible. He was going to do everything he could to keep this person alive not particularly because it was his duty or that he needed the information this stranger had but rather that he wanted to see Tali happy again.

Mikhail lay on a make-shift bed eyes closed dreaming a nostalgic dream that Tali had fueled.


	2. We are Legion

Okay in my second act for this story I decided to listen to your recommendations; like to add more detail, correct more spelling errors and so forth. Just be aware that I write in British-English and not American-English, therefore instead of color I might write colour so just be aware of that.

This time taking Mikhail onto the surface, a larger part of his history is revealed and the Geth-Quarian diplomatic status is (sort-of) explored.

Enjoy the story and please leave your comments so I can decide if I should continue this FanFic or drop it.

HERETIC- PART I

ACT 2: We Are Legion

As Mikhail lay motionless, waking from his troubled dream his eyes immediately caught sight of stout human, arms crossed staring at him. His eyes fixed in a rather discomforting position on Mikhail. Shepard spoke, "Something wrong?" his eyes staying static and his voice filled with distrust, not moving an inch as he spoke.

"Are you going to kill me?" Mikhail asked; his voice filled with anger. While a small part of him was scared of this person before him he didn't show it. In all his days as a mercenary the biggest fear he had was to meet an N7 special forces operative, let alone the hero of the Citadel and the slaughterer of so many fellow mercenaries and friends. He wasn't in his traditional Blue Suns armour but rather a simple uniform composed of a baggy black jacket over a weathered and torn shirt, a long legged and badly damaged pair of pants with fairly new boot. On his head he wore a simple cap combined with a balaclava and a half-face mask that concealed most of his face. He had additional garments like a heavy belt and woolen gloves which had their fingers cut, it looked dirty but he wasn't in a position of luxury. He wouldn't expect Shepard to recognize him in his current outfitting but something had clearly troubled him.

"No, if I wanted to I would have already done that," his voice maintaining is tone. Immediately he picked up his rifle and helmet from the table they was leaning on and walked off to the entrance to the dome putting on his helmet with one hand as he strode away. Mikhail was left with his thoughts. After a moment he looked at his legs which seemed to be painless, pulling himself up he saw what he had expected; the absence of one of his legs. He laid back down on the hard surface he was resting on as he began to recall the painful events; as he turned his thoughts to other places he noticed a fire radiating warmth next to his bunk creating a soft crackling sound and a yellow and orange tinge in the surrounding area, after a moment of admiring the sight he moved his attention away to a pile of medical and food supplies resting to the side of his bed; observing different medical packages he found packages of morphine, medi-gel, aspirins and more that he couldn't discern. Looking diagonally to his right he noticed a massive heap of filled black rectangular bags stacked neatly, he contemplated what they could be then abruptly realized who _they_ were. In the midst of his thoughts a very odd sight caught his attention, a relatively large orb floated weightlessly to his side followed by a series of what sounded like beeping noises after a short pause. "What the hell is a drone doing here?" he said somewhat louder than a whisper. The drone floated away silently away, its purple radiance allowing Mikhail to follow its trail. It led straight to a Quarian who was already moving towards him.

As she reached him she sat at the edge of the bunk he was laid on. She slowly tilted her head towards him, as if she were observing him; how so he did not know; judging from the amount of clothing he was wearing on his head. After what seemed like ages she spoke:

"What are you doing here?" was the question she asked as her head fell downwards in a depressed manner. Suddenly sitting in an upright manner he responded, "I'm sorry I don't think we've met before." They stared at each other in a moment of silence only interrupted by the occasional sound of gunfire or the noise of plummeting metal in the distance, he thinking of where he had seen her before and she of whether he was being coy . Looking straight into his eyes she spoke, "What happened to her?" in a soft voice. His expression changed from being thoughtful to a frown then lastly resting in a disheartened manner. "She is de-" he choked on his last words as tears fell from his eyes and landed with a barely audible patter. Tali moved closer, crossed her arms around his neck, laid her head on his shoulder and whispered "She meant a lot to the both of us, for what it's worth….. I'm sorry."In her subconscious Tali started thinking about all the people they had lost; Ashley Williams on Virmire, the Cerberus crew in the Collector base and about her father- Rael'Zorah on the Alerai.

Finally managing to control his emotions Mikhail coughed and exhaled slowly. Tali moving back to her original position staying quiet. Attempting to move away from the troubling past Mikhail enquired to Tali, "what's going to happen to my leg?" the Quarian shook her head. "We're planning on adding a cybernetic leg to where the original was. However with the current medical tools and conditions we have here we cannot perform surgery of that kind. We need to move you to a specialized facility." The human returned a curious expression, "What kind of specialized facility?" In a proud manner she replied, "The Normandy!"

Tali didn't expect the reaction she got from him. His eyes were wide and his mouth open. "What? Is there a problem?" her question largely going unanswered. Mikhail responded, "Is Jacob on board the Normandy?" his Russian pronunciation coming through to Tali as a remarkably different accent than she was used to. "Yes, why?" with her reply a fire lit in his eyes as the past once again caught up to him.

_They had just finished loading the last of the crew onto the life pods. The corridors were flooded with red warning lights accompanied by a loud alarm sounding off at regular intervals. He had stayed behind to help any crew that was stuck in the lower floors get off the ship. He had succeeded for the most part but now was facing a desperate situation for his own survival. The smoke filled his lungs and his vision blurred as he desperately fought to breathe, eventually he fell to the ground and his vision became darkened._

_As he came to he noticed a man standing in front of him, the Alliances symbol's stars shining brightly in the dark and damp room. As he tried to move he noticed his arms were held in place by strong metal restraints and so were his feet. It was cold and the only source of light was a hanging light-bulb slowly swaying from side to side. The man stepped into the light revealing his face and smiled. What followed were things that he continued to dread to this day. He was told that he had sabotaged the MSV-Ionside, he did not, and he knew he didn't but they really didn't care. All they wanted was an accomplice; and after the amount of propaganda they thrust onto families who wanted an explanation they had one._

_He later found the person responsible for ruining his entire life was a man going by the name of Jacob._

Tali cleared her throat in an effort to remind him of her query; Mikhail shook off the thought and turned once again to Tali. He told her the story of the events of the _MSV-Ionside_ and the nightmare of his ordeal with Jacob. Only once he finished did he realize that this was only the second person he ever spoke of this story to before, he didn't know why. The friendliness she had showed him thus far was something that he didn't expect but then again she was a Quarian and they were social by culture.

"That's why Shepard doesn't trust you!" Tali blurted out. Mikhail showing a face of shock; Shepard didn't trust him not because he was Blue Suns but rather that he was seen by the Alliance as a murderer and terrorist. The two looked at each other for a fair amount of time then without warning Mikhail held out his hand, "Mikhail, and you?", "Tali."

…12 hours later…..

The fast moving orb returned to Mikhail's side, rotating its different holographic layers sporadically. This time he sat upright and holding out his hand gave a small stroke to what he assumed was its top. Shepard was asleep; his hand underneath his pillow holding an object that somewhat resembled a knife, its blade giving off a red and silver luminance, Mikhail scoffed at the sight then turned to his right. Tali and Legion were at the entrance softly talking to each other with their weapons in hand somewhat off-guard. The floating orb before him released a small spark, as if calling for attention to the person before it. The human contemplated the sight; _I've never seen a drone like this _he thought. He looked around searching for an expendable object, settling on a piece of rubble he picked it up and threw it with what energy he had left, half expecting the drone to follow the flying object it rather fired a spark at it, making the piece of stone separate into several smaller pieces with a small burst of dust. The human gave off a laugh due to the apparent hostility of the drone but it rather just generated a series of beeps. Waking from his own sleep due to all the noise Shepard yawned softly and quickly got up, holstering his knife in the sheath on the leg opposite to his pistol.

As he walked past Mikhail he gave a grunt accompanied by a very unfriendly, unpleasant stare at him. Responding he started calmly and patiently, "Shepard, I'm not who you think I am…," a long and arduous moment passed as Shepard exhaled loudly while walking over to the bench housing the supplies and started rummaging through the various medical and foodstuff provisions. Finding something he found desirable he turned around and burned his eyes into the soldiers. "You killed civilians and destroyed an un-armed Alliance vessel! How you do think I should feel towards you?" building up his courage Mikhail returned the attitude to the galaxy's hero, "Do you even have any proof I did that? Don't you think it's a bit over-exaggerated that I would kill so many for such a small grudge against the captain? Or even that I was enlisted as a private on the MSV-Ionsidebefore the supposed terror attack?" Shepard responded with fury clenching his fists he stood towering over the combatant and with a tone and level of voice that both Tali and Legion were compelled to react to, "DON'T LIE TO ME! YOU WEREN'T ENLISTED ON ANY ALLIANCE SHIPS!" holding his index finger at Mikhail while still clenching his other hand. There was a brief silence, then as Mikhail was opened his mouth to respond Legion interrupted, "The injured individual is correct, our previous extranet searches indicate that this individual was assigned as a Private on the MSV-Ionside, after the situation onboard the vessel Alliance personnel terminated the links to and from the existing archives. All other individuals who had direct or indirect links to this individual were terminated in the following two months through unconventional methods. We have yet to find any records of this human on any of our present extranet searches."

For a brief moment Shepard considered the comment Legion had made, he then returned his sight to Mikhail, his eyes no longer blazing but rather having a slightly welcome tone though still a distrust lingering. In complete amazement to everyone and everything around; Shepard unclenched his hands and held one out to Mikhail, "AI's don't make mistakes." Responding in kind the combatant shook the hand and nodded. "I need to know everything you know about what has happened here and about you if you want my trust." Shepard said in a familiar voice, at least it was familiar to Tali who as she walked by Mikhail whispered, "He has never done that before." The N7 operative opened his omni-tool and began a recording as he found a box to sit on. Legion remained standing upright holding his rifle and constantly rotating his "head", while Tali took a seat on the edge of the worn bunk. Mikhail started telling them his tale starting from the previous day leading backwards through his life. However he had left certain events out of the account, something that Tali noticed but kept quiet as she too knew how irrelevant it was to their situation.

Shepard hesitated and stood up, as much as he thought he knew about the galaxy there was so much he was missing, did the Alliance really do this? Was Jacob capable of such horrors? Who were these fiends the soldier talked about? Legion spoke up interrupting Shepards trail of thought, "The report the human verbalizes matches the depiction of known General Collector hostiles to 75.33%."

A shock filled Shepard's eyes, exhaling deeply he turned to speak to both Legion and Tali, "We've got bigger issues; how long until you're ready?"

The Geth and Quarian looked at each other; the Geth extending its flaps erratically and Tali narrowing her eyes. Finally Legion replied, "Initial estimations relayed from our forward craft indicate 15.45 hours," thereafter Tali spoke, "Our fleet is awaiting the Geth in the outer rim of the Sol system." Nodding Shepard replied darkly and lacking confidence, "I'll contact the other teams to begin preparations." Signaling to Legion to follow him he quickly turned around and walked off back to the entrance leaving Tali and Mikhail.

"He's changed, I don't even recognize him anymore," Tali spoke depressingly moving her head downwards. Lost in the entire conversation that had just occurred between the Human, Quarian and Geth Mikhail opened his mouth to speak but gesturing her hand upwards she spoke again, "We're evacuating the entire Metro sub-system, after our Alliance with the Geth we were given our homeworld back on the condition of helping to repel the Reaper invasion. The fleet will be used to transport everyone off Earth starting here." Standing up and turning her back to him she commented," you should get some sleep; we move tomorrow."

…The Following Day…..

Waking up to the purple orb Mikhail pushed himself up, noticing Shepard forcing objects into two distinct bags, one looking heavier than the other. "Her name is Chiktikka vas Paus," she said smiling under her visor offering her hand to Mikhail. As he took it she pulled him to his feet or rather foot and he replied, "Why is it so different from other drones?" Shepard handed her the lighter bag and put on the heavier one. Tali turning to Mikhail put a strap of the rucksack on one of his shoulders and left the other hanging. "I programmed** her** myself," she said proudly.

Legion interrupted the group and declared in its usual synthesized voice, "Creator craft have reached the specified landing zones; we recommend haste." Instantaneously massive gunfire boomed around the concreted walls. "Tali, stay behind me with Mikhail, Legion you lead the way to the extraction point and I'll provide supporting fire, let's move!" With Shepards commanding voice they started making their way to the entrance. Legion moving forward rotating his view 180 degrees left to right with its Mantis, Shepard with his Revenant scanning up and down; and Mikhail limping on one leg while supporting himself with his right arm around Tali neck.

In their current situation they moved surprisingly fast making their way through the narrow tunnels leading out of the metro with unbelievable haste. It seemed strange to Mikhail that these tunnels were deserted as when they had walked through them before it had been crawling with husks.

Shattering this thought bullets whizzed past his head, falling off Tali's shoulder Mikhail fell to the ground, in response Legion quickly fired a shot while un-scoped at the entity, as he was re-adjusting Shepard squeezed the trigger of his rifle, completely destroying the hidden entity and pulverizing the wall behind it. Reaching a hand out to Mikhail Tali helped him onto her shoulder again at the same time pressing a few buttons on her omni-tool to apply adrenaline. Suddenly an all too familiar sound resonated through the form of a loud screeching sound. Shepard through the chaos wondered what these things were, having guessed that these were husks by the sound of the previous noise it didn't explain the use of weaponry; still, he stayed focused of his role. However Mikhail had encountered these husks before; they were more advanced and were capable of wielding weapons; though these were usually outdated assault rifles from the 21st century they still didn't understand where they got the supplies from.

They kept running, following the Geth blindly through the numerous areas; dodging the projectiles and the insurmountable noise they made. It surprised Shepard how ruthless this Geth had become, mostly immune to the metal projectiles it stormed into the husks more like a Krogan than anything else, when they came to a door Legion simply fired two shots at the hinges and burst through it like polystyrene quickly clearing the room before them, almost surgically.

Finally seeing the light of day the group pushed their last ounce of energy into making it to the exit. As their eyes adjusted to the exterior lighting they realized the ambush they had walked into, "WATCH OUT!" Shepard yelled pushing Tali and the weathered human onto the ground just behind the chassis of a vehicle, while he took cover with Legion behind a large piece of rubble opposite to Mikhail.

"Legion; status report!" Shepard commanded, "Scans indicate several unidentified hostiles utilizing heavy projectile weaponry." As he finished a RPG hit their cover; showering dirt and dust across them but luckily not causing enough damage to outright destroy their cover, "Legion can you neutralize?" Shepard asked over the noise, "Negative; this mobile platform is not designed to sustain the impact of projectiles that the hostiles are currently employing." The chassis Tali and Mikhail were leaning behind was being compounded by heavy machine-gun fire; it was only a matter of time until the bullets would pierce the material. Shepard shouted above the noise, "Tali send in your drone, while he's distracted I'll pin them down and Legion will sn-," Shepard was interrupted suddenly by a massive explosion as the gunfire stopped and voices were heard shouting.

"Thermal imagining confirms numerous organics, four synthetics matching known Geth runtimes, and two heavy vehicles" as he finished the gunfire stopped, a familiar voice was heard, "Spread out and secure the area," Tali instantly came out of her cover seeing a band of Geth, Quarians and Humans surrounding a Mako and a Armature with a red and white suited Quarian leading the pack, "Kal'Reegar?" Tali walked over shaking his hand with enthusiasm. Everyone except Mikhail went over to greet the team as he lay motionless on the ground.

Looking over at the sky he noticed that the weather was hot and sunny, the best time of year in Russia, it reminded him of his childhood. Looking around he noticed the three crewmates deep in conversation with the Quarian and a human who he assumed was the commander. He felt helpless and as much as he attempted to get up he kept falling back down.

Tali's awkward drone that had followed him for so long returned from a source that Mikhail could not discern. It moved so close to him that there were only a few inches of space between them, its purple vibrancy almost hurting his eyes. Out of the blue he got an idea; getting into a more comfortable position he attempted to pull himself up onto the orb, using all his strength he let out a groan as one of his arms strained but he managed. The object beeped happily and slowly started moving towards the group allowing him time to make his way following it. Seeing this Tali let out a small giggle while the rest just smiled.

Ignoring the attention drawn to him he simply looked to the sky and saw a massing of ships that were grounded as far as the eye could see, a few were arriving and even fewer were leaving.

Pointing into the sky Reegar spoke directly, "We have orders to secure this area until everyone is evacuated; I suggest you move to these co-ordinates for extraction, hurry we don't have much ti-" he was interrupted by a thunderous blare as massive ships appeared in the sky. Their structure complex with several arms extending from their sides. The Geth started communicating with their usual sounds, Shepard extending a gaze at Legion.

A Quarian ship which was attempting to take off was promptly shredded by a large laser as one arm of a Reaper ship fixed its direction towards the fleet, a massive chassis falling to the ground as more casualties resulted. Tali looked at Legion then in a rush of anger shot out at the synthetic throwing it to the ground, "Where are your ships? Why aren't you attacking?" her shouting turning to crying as tears started rolling down her face. Continuing their usual flow of noises the Geth simply stared at the Quarian. "Creator Zorah, hostiles have not reached desired distance for effective counter attack." Shepard walked over to Tali, putting a hand on her shoulder he slowly turned her towards him and embraced her as she continued to shed tears.

The humans looked at each other nervously, depressed and heartbroken by what they were witnessing. At that moment in time the sun was blocked and the sky turned black, what followed was the roar of bombardment and destruction as a fleet of incalculable ships led a reign of terror on the massive but few invaders.

Reegar shouted above the noise signaling towards the extraction zone, but his voice was not heard through the tremendous noise of the warfare above them but they still saw where he was pointing. This time Shepard and Tali hand in hand took the lead, Legion being the only one seemingly immune to the deafening noise around them took Mikhail by the arm and moved him to the same position Tali had held him and followed the two who had the frontage. Storming through the debris filled streets they game under heavy fire; even so they ignored it and kept moving, Legion now throwing the human onto his shoulder to move faster. The ship was in view but its thrusters had already fired up and were beginning to lift the hunk of titanium into the air.

Shouting the commander let go of Tali's hand and with insurmountable speed darted across the field, holding up his hand. The Quarian standing on the ramp of the aerial vessel signaled to someone inside the cargo hold and the ramp started moving back down, however the ship continued to increase in height.

Shepard reached the craft and turned to view his squad, Tali was struggling to catch up, at the worst possible time she tripped on a piece of metal tumbling to the ground. Legion following closely physically threw Mikhail at Shepard while reaching out to Tali.

Mikhail fell to the hard and cold metal of the craft at Shepard's feet; his nose broke as he did so. Ignoring him Shepard called out to the two remaining soldiers. Taking Tali's hand Legion practically dragging her through the ground, Mikhail visually searched around the hold they were in, his eyes catching sight of a rope. Crawling with all his remaining energy towards it he unhooked it and threw it to Shepard. Thereafter throwing one end to the two on the ground while planting his feet on the corrugated floor and tightening his grip on the rope, Shepard geared himself for the worst. Several more passengers joined him in holding the rope.

Grabbing hold of the rope the synthetic lightly tugged on the rope once Tali also had a firm grip, "PULL!" Shepard roared out in a voice that far surpassed the noise of the ongoing war above them, with all their might they pulled up the rope, slowly but fiercely.

At last the two former enemies reached the ramp, lunging themselves onto the floor. Tali breaching so heavily that it fogged her visor and Legion having sustained so much damage and dust that he was forced to find a cloth to clear the visor that was used as an eye.

The war for Earth had begun.


End file.
